[center][h3]Power Stone Games: Extra Stage[/h3]
[i]Friday Morning[/i]
Location: Esaka's Mid-Tier, Forbidden Kingdom 
Word Count: 1336 (+3 exp)

[color=BC8DBF]Therion[/color], [color=aqua]Rika[/color], & [color=ec008c]Juri[/color]
[sup][@Yankee][@DracoLunaris][@Zoey Boey][/sup][/center]
With break time over and no Seekers but Juri dropping out just yet, the remaining four filtered out from under the tents and back into the park to pick their next battlegrounds. The brief respite from the morning's persistent cold drizzle made it all the more miserable to walk back out into, at least for Therion, so when the [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4effb122d7ac.png]clerk of the park's gift shop[/url] waved at potential fighters to head on inside for something special he did just that. Of course he wasn’t the only one drawn in, swiftly followed by Rika.

The shopkeeper gestured to a large poster on the wall that listed various items, from different kinds of hand held food to weaponry like guns, swords, and flamethrowers. There were even various magic wands listed alongside all manner of strange equipment - with a small fee printed beside every single one.

“Get a headstart on your next match by buying an item to start off with. Maybe even two, because you never know how far that first one is going to get you!”

Though grateful for getting out of the rain again, Therion couldn’t help but scoff at the sales pitch. A production like this did need to make money somehow, and donations probably weren’t cutting it, he figured. 

“Better be quick with your shopping though,” the red head continued as she moved behind the counter. “The next round is starting in just two minutes!”

Mel snapped her fingers and one of the shop’s walls creaked before sliding up into the ceiling to reveal a much larger back room. Normally this might be where one could expect the shop’s extra stock to be stored, but rather than rows of shelving it was a more open space with crates and chests scattered around. On one side were steel pipes connected to a boiler that ran up the nearest wall and criss crossed overhead, sturdy looking enough that they could feasibly be hung or swung from. That however was second to the live tree that was inexplicably growing up through the center of the floor, its roots splintering the wood around its base and its branches expertly trimmed to only spread so high and so far. In one corner there was a camera that would broadcast the place to a screen outside so spectators could get their fill of whatever chaotic events happened indoors.

“Welcome to~ a special [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4d0792115395.png]extra stage[/url]!”

Juri, sitting back on a building nearby, watched the events ongoing displayed on said TV. Like always, she was invisible, though she had enough and wanted to go back inside. As she stood up, her mechanical eye spotted something interesting in the crowd. Several powerful fighters. Not just Low Tier scrubs following the excitement like sheep. In particular, Juri recognized Bryan Fury. What a nut job. Juri could accept that, coincidentally, some powerful fighters might pay a pity visit to the Power Stone Games. Him in particular made her think that the Seekers had gotten the attention they were really after. Pivoting from her goal of annoying everyone around her and entertaining herself, while the others kept going, Juri would play spy and keep an eye on the High Tier fighters in the crowd. She might have been on to something since he slipped into the shop stage not long after she started observing him. And he wasn't the only one.

Down below, Rika was gawking indecisively over all the gear (or, really, mainly the food) on display [color=Aqua]”ooo, gimmy, uh, um,”[/color] and functionally holding up the line, such as there was one, in the process. The man who Juri had spotted, Bryan Fury, cared not about said line one bit, striding right up to the counter, slamming a boatload of zenny onto it, and then pointing dramatically at a [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4b78db730d76.png]minigun[/url] that was taking up an entire shelf by itself back there.

The shopkeeper Mel hesitated only for long enough to estimate the amount of money he'd thrown down before sweeping it into the old fashioned register and turning to heft his chosen weapon off of the rack. "Great choice!"

[color=BC8DBF]"Wait a minute."[/color] Therion stepped up to the counter, not so much pressed about the guy cutting Rika in line versus the fact that the two of them might about to be stuck in the building with the soon to be machine gun wielder. And the gun in question did not seem like the goofy items from the first round. [color=BC8DBF]"That thing doesn't look like a toy. I thought this whole game was supposed to be for fun - so what does this shoot?"[/color]

"Eh? It fires cold, hard lead of course!" Mel replied. She set the mini gun down with a heavy [i]thunk[/i] and wiped her brow; Fury scooped it up for himself much more easily. It seemed even in the casual entertainment of Esaka, its citizens remained nonchalant about mortal danger. "There are still plenty of other [i]random[/i] items to go around once the game gets started though.”

[color=Aqua]”I’m… thinking maybe we will go fight somewhere else?”[/color] Rika suggested, and indeed turned to go do so, only to find an inscrutable [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/e666c9ce2457.png]humming man[/url] baring her way. Even when she tried to step around him, he moved to block her path once more, while at the same time tossing Bryan a satchel of coins and nodding towards the weapons on offer. 

[color=Aqua]”Excuse me? Could you. Move?”[/color] Rika requested with increasing frustration during several failed attempts at stepping around the scarred man.

By that point Therion had already pieced together what was going on. Quiet and casual though it was, he knew an ambush when he saw one. The only question he had was if the park and Power Stone staff were in on it.

[color=BC8DBF]"Rika,"[/color] he said, tone low and full of warning as he placed a hand on her shoulder to draw her back away from the man. [color=BC8DBF]"Seems like they want to compete against us for real - and they aren't gonna take 'no' for an answer."[/color]

The sight of Byran purchasing and then tossing the other man (one Sergei Dragunov) a stylised but still very conventionally deadly [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/931f561a60f0.png]Desert Eagle[/url] rather confirmed this.

Rika declared all this to be [color=Aqua]"Rude"[/color] with a huff, more annoyed to be back to regular violence than actually threatened, seemingly, before turning, pointing and purchasing [color=Aqua]"That thing"[/color] from Mel, resulting in her facing down the two muscular men while holding a [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/ce98fa44e848.png]Panzer Lance[/url] in one gauntlet while she re-donned her helmet using the other.

"Good choices," Mel said, happily nodding her head before glancing at the last of the four people gathered. "Last chance for any shopping!"

Therion had only given the shop's stock a brief once over not with the eyes of a customer but those of a thief, which naturally picked out whatever was most valuable looking or least likely to be missed. Now, with limited time to gear up himself, his gaze flicked over every piece offensive and defensive to come up with some kind of counter. In the end he wasn't going to rely on an unfamiliar weapon, though he did pass the clerk a small amount to get a strange [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/86dbead7e563.png]seed[/url] in return. 

Now though Mel had kept her friendly professionalism up she was not oblivious to the growing tension in her shop, so once the tell tale sound of Biff's mega phone starting up drifted in from the open doorway she hit the register to collapse it into a special hideaway inside the counter. She gave the group a short, quick wave and made a beeline for the exit. "Um, good luck and have fun!"

The shop door hitched a moment, and a spectre slipped inside. Juri moved behind the counter and dropped her invisibility to prevent anyone from hearing the noise her cloaking device made in close quarters. 

The shop door slammed shut only a second later, and a few more lights over the extra stage arena flickered on as the announcement sounded throughout the park. 

[i]"Three, two, one... action!"[/i]